Building East German Car - Trabant

[toddjochapman]

That is a WORLD CLASS mullet at the beginning of the clip!!!

[crttech]

Pos car

[Sephirius]

At least they had guys checking/adjusting the fit and finish- BL certainly didn't!

[masterawesomeish]

@Sephirius Thanks to Top Gear, a BL promotional film showed an old bloke banging a ill fitting panel on an underside of an Mini in a rather undignified manner, with a hammer. At least with this, there is a little finesse and technique!!

[xiruahu]

12 people have a trabant.

[iMariuz]

1:32 why is Mario building cars?

[kirkbutler12]

Your video went viral on Maldives

[Mg2009M]

Fabricação artesanal, com muito amor e carinho no alinhamento das peças de papel da carroceria.

[mrspivvy]

I am from the UK, we never had Trabants over here but I still want one. whats not to like? ultra basic 2 cylinder air cooled two stroke and a body that won't rust.

[fy4wbibv1]

1:32 It`s me Mario!



[jacobsczgmail]

I loved my Trabi.

[somenoobz]

die gute alte zeit

[TrabantSRB]

It is hilarious when you see, that people who talk bad about Trabants, never saw or drove them. I have 1988 Trabant 601s, and I can give one word what describe it perfectly - RELIABLE.

[tomaszkajor]

@TrabantSRB, my neighbour had a Trabant 601 from 1980-92. She drove it everywhere- shopping, holidays, church. Wherever. She just got in and drove off. No problems with starting the car or so.

[TrabantSRB]

@tomaszkajor

Yes, as I said, car is very reliable.

About some things in video.. that kicking of engine grill. It was normal thing to adjust it. You tight ti up with 2 screws and in some case it wont fit right, so you have to apply some pressure to make it fit right, or you won't be able to close bonnet.

And about hammering and adjusting doors... it was common thing in factories all over the world. Let's not forget that this car is designed at 60's and that production was not much changed.

[XxretardhaterxX]

2 stroke shitbird

[dragonsder]

It's already falling apart as he builds it...

[granskare]

hand built, just like a Rolls....personal attention given to each vehicle...super!

[goodchap1971]

They are great cars. 

[8524mycky]

for the most beatifull car that I had, even now, I cry for her,

[seriousbe]

1:31

Mario and Luigi hidden blue brother was a car mech in DDR

[blachorz]

niemiecka precyzja, kurwa laczkiem gril dopycha

[abelpower]

Very interesting video

[locoawise]

german handmade, like a mercedez

[bahowski]

They not test their car with robots lasers or engineers.They test it punching, hit wooden pieces on the door

[rsoares73]

0:56 - epic moment

[sukhoi235]

TRABANT - because real car is for pussies

[charlie2268]

What a classic piece of engineering!

[LoveSwedishGirls]

They look like they build cars in a garage

[pedrocosmos]

that's why they only had 2 doors

[sfenodonte]

German car FEINT to the Russian method. I task that the film is false NOT a CREED THAT ALL THUS WERE CURED

[TheWarbirdPhoenix]

Oh come on,I bought and built toys more sturdier then these things.

[LouLope]

Didn't take much to bend that car into shape, probably didn't take much get it out of shape.

[datawraith3080]

1:30 LOL one brake light works!

[fromsuncity1]

more proof communism doesn't work

[xxxdieselyyy2]

@fromsuncity1 --------------->Why? Because they don't waste money on luxuries?? 

[leoisforevercool]

I've never seen one of these in USA, I'd love to import one lol.

[datawraith3080]

@leoisforevercool there is a company in wisconsin that will.. search online they charge about $5,995 for a sedan imported and restored any color!

[wojtek1425]

Is it safe to say that Trabant is related to Audi?

[larseparsje1]

@wojtek1425

actualy it is.

[volvoapina]

@larseparsje1  DKW?!!?

[Dklauck1]

@wojtek1425 perhaps two months late on a reply but the only relationship I know of between Audi and Trabant is they were build at the factory where the Audi once was.

[rilluma]

mc gyvver is the builder

[cheeriosinabowl]

A real home-made car.

[HBK007GJSp]

thats like in 1950's

[Watcher3223]

So, let me get this straight. They correct for problems with fitting by whacking and bending it out?

And they can even achieve this with no tools save for a mallet and a wedge?

I mean, wow. The car must have the rigidity of a beer can.

[egyfa]

The Ferrari also hand-assembled

[azthundercloud]

looks like my chrysler being built. 

[leylandcarsloverslea]

Communism some how doesn't actually build the best cars....

[seriousbe]

@leylandcarsloverslea

In my opinion french cars are even worse...

[MrSwf3r]

@seriousbe French cars ARE the worst! ;)

[lajajoker]

Hát nem variáltak szereltek :D de milyen precizitással. Le a kalapom. Viszont mikor a vajszínűnek bekúrja az ajtaját :D hát nem ültem volna belül :D

[dustyOn3]

1:32 best part hahaha

[TalksWithDirt]

Now I ask you this? How is it that the East wanted to foist this car on the West? Look at your choices, a society that offered the people the Dodge Charger, Corvette, and Mustang,vs the society that offered the Trabant and the Lada. No contest. Workers paradise?

[9999RuneScape999]

@TalksWithDirt Yepp Lada and Trabant, ftw

[Sismiques]

@TalksWithDirt

What, you don't like the GAZ-24?

[tomaszkajor]

@TalksWithDirt, in fact, Lada was italian fiat 128

[TalksWithDirt]

@tomaszkajor But Italy has been at the ass end of the West since Venice went to hell 500 years ago. Look at all that room the Russians/Soviets had. They could have had ranch houses with 3 car garages, 4 hectars of land per family and 6 kids. With muscle cars, they had the oil too. They have soooo much, yet they bunch up in small apartments in large cities and have no kids. Crazy.

[MacIn173]

@tomaszkajor In fact, Lada was based on Fiat.

[tomaszkajor]

@MacIn173, that's what I wanted to say. However, it's more Italian than Russian car

[TrabantSRB]

@tomaszkajor

Actually, no. Lada was Fiat 124.

Fiat 128 was used for Zastava 128 and Zastava 101. ;)

[tomaszkajor]

@TrabantSRB, yes, yes, It was a mistake.

[MrMKH2010]

@3:24 he says "das ist genug gut".

[analoguedeath]

@MrMKH2010

no that means "fuck it "

lol

[nullpore]

This car would be a very cure nice car again if reconstructed using Italian design and Japanese parts, though.

[Darklordkime]

@nullpore If they could use the Audi 3 cylinder that they make now with maby a little bit higher quality metal, hell i would buy 3

[pe6obutilkata]

piece of crap

[dukee155]

This car vs the BMW's that were made in West Germany.

[pirocorolh0]

MAS TEAGO

[schlawa]

The waiting time was around 20 years for such a car, because of that many parents filled out the contract when a child was born ... :)

[Ibike75]

Brutal fabrication :)

[Dklauck1]

The VW Beetle was West Germany. There was no trade between the 2 countries. 

[leylandcarsloverslea]

I heard they're two cycle engines. Why didn't they just try modifying a VW Beatle engine?

[Marcosgabriel62]

olha o carinho né...

[matkotejko]

I love the music

[ShindentheGreat]

I love how he has to kick the grill to get the hood to stay... and it's still on the assembly line. XD

[Spetet]

Nice mullet!

[MrMKH2010]

The Trabant was probably much better to drive than a Lada. Talk about a piece of junk.

[scdevon]

Take a poorly made car and beat the $hit out of it until everything lines up.

Got it.

[Dendrocnide]

@scdevon It really shows they had big issues with quality control if they had to have someone work at making things fit together like that. The parts should just fit properly, without having to hammer at them. It also shows why the DDR could never satisfy demand for automobiles; it just took much more labor and time to finish building a car there.

[malbert34]

Pure Problem solving =D

[Toerme]

Impressive :D

[Shukria123]

I bet this worker is now unemployed and homeless.

[RickyTomatoes]

@Shukria123 No, he works for BMW now :P

[cesartnz]

hand, foot and hammer made!!!

[blain93]

Lol the shoddy soviet manufacturing musta been killing the perfectionist germans XD

[DrMotorDude]

7 East German communists watched this video and didn't like their secrets being revealed to Western, Yankee, Imperialist PIGDOGS.

[FalconGhia]

It's surprising to see how did they do the final adjustments, I've never seen something like this before. It took a lot of man work and time in every car!

Now I understand why it took up to 18 years to have one once you did your buying order... ;-)

[BooYaaTrill]

Handcrafted

[the06bug]

Super Mario musta been a BUSY guy in the 80s... Plumber, super hero, AND car builder?! Snaps. :P

[Subsw00fers]

Has anyone ever tried putting a 13b wankel in those?

[nappytedd]

true hammer-smiths!

[justint5387]

At least they work fast 

[mrcengr]

Gotta love the mullet.

[zbindch]

Manner aus Stahl, fahren Autos aus Pappe - Men of steel drive cars made of cardboard

[HolmesofBakerStreet]

As that John Oates working on the tan colored one?

[HodneySFortuna]

@HolmesofBakerStreet

Yes! Were Daryl Hall and John Oates working in Trabant.

[PrettyBrg]

Luigi quit his job as a plumber and is now an East German auto mechanic.

[Superchickenman159]

@PrettyBrg what a talented skilled tradesman eh!

[CEWAbenteuern]

@PrettyBrg That's exactly what I was thinking when I saw him.

[MidnightFapper69]

@PrettyBrg before he started his adult film career as ,,ron jeremy" ;)

[baboonhunters]

It was really that bad they were modelling it on the go xD One hit it'd be dead. I heard stories of how one was actually eaten by pigs because of the poor material used in its making xD

[mihnea134]

@baboonhunters that is from a movie scene. "white cat, black cat " if i remember

[ponehdanesh]

i love this car.

[GladRags]

Trabant > Mini

[M3LKS]

sad that they did not show the building progress from the beginning - they start off with a pile of metal, beat it with a hammer and kick it until its a brand new trabant.

[tomaszkajor]

@M3LKS, trabant is made of duroplast.

[jakexdk]

Nothing seem to fit xD

[TimoNskyKG]

ahh te wspaniałe kolory ^^

[AttilaSVK]

Try to do the same on a Hummer :-D

[gevar234]

@AttilaSVK Probably could, Hummer looks like a beast, but it's actually built on a standard frame. My uncle used to work at an auto repair garage. Same day two cars came in with exactly the same problem, and happened in the same way. Head on deer collision at about the same speeds and the same kind of deer. The Toyota came away with minor repairs, the Hummer was totaled.

[KrasnyBaron]

Russian Lada отдыхает... хваленое немецкое качество... работать как немцы, немецкая сборка... ногой решетку подгонять-это-ж надо так!

[SOSFreezer]

ah, that's why everyone had to wait 10 years to get one!

[belmix]

Each one is a one of a kind I guess

[macfahad]

Its funny, they wouldn't have to work half as much time if they only built all the parts to specifications and aligned them correctly, and not have to keep banging on them with a hammer LOL Shows the quality of the cars not to mention the materials used to build them.

[zer0nable]

east-german high technology

[DaBoogie049]

Die Spaltmaße mit nem Hammer und Pflock einstellen... ehm ja!

[pittapitta]

you should have put a west german factory on the right for comparison.

[zer0nable]

@pittapitta

lol that would be nice 

[CommodoreCaravan1981]

woow its funny to see how they trim the cars body xDD: mallet, fist and feets. today if you kick against a new car-body you'll be fired out ^_^. funny @ 1:01 and the gesture @ 3:23 ("it's ok so") xDDD. but @ all: the Trabant was a nice designed, reliable car made in a really bad economic situation. if you think 'bout the conditions they had in the GDR its great what they bild there. and the Trabant was not as bad as some think ;)

[rxtx1979]

I can imagine how thay swore after a few desperate kick :)

[NelsonDeRavin]

It's a lie, that's not thw way they built those carse, those cars in the video were defective.

[thefatdic]

what a piece of SHIT. There kicking in the god damn grill, super garbage cars from super garbage country

[trabrider]

WEll that's hoe i re align my panels. and as for falling to pieces after 40, 000 miles, don;t you beleive it, one of mine is 43 years old, over 200,000 on the clock and start first time, every time, has never let me down and i wouldn;'tbe without it

[skyterus]

real hand made :D:D

[gospodinpetrovic]

@skyterus

...and foot. :)

[av8tor17b]

I don't know when this film was shot but it must have been in the late 1970s' or early 1980's. Nice film - gets the real flavor of a Trabant!

[erskacz]

who knows how much that costs in € today ?

[cornell123]

@erskacz In sweden around 2000 euro for a late eighties model

[ringa91]

LOOOL they sure do use the hammer a lot :D

[GodBotherer1]

What a piece of shit.

No wonder they risked life & death jumping the wall to drive a Jaguar or a BMW.

For the whole tie the wall was up, nothing had changed, the whole of East Germany still remained in the year 1961.

[hifijohn]

@GodBotherer1 the car was designed in the mid 50's and remained pretty much the same until the 91!!!

[apuuu111]

alda hat der nen vokuhila xD

[godwrote01]

love it , this is what i call a mechanic

[u2bzane]

A car beat into production, for a population beat into submission.

[Fetchdafish]

Holy shit...

[nucleartactician]

This is what I call proper quality-control and cars that are hand-built. ;) Even Rolls Royce don't provide this type of workmanship.

[Mos6502]

To everybody who thinks it's funny that they're beating and kicking the cars to get the panel fit right - that's just how cars were made then. BMC Mini, VW Beetle, Citroen 2cv...  They were all built like this. Citroen even had a SPECIAL BOOT just for kicking their cars. This was the normal way of getting doors and hoods to fit, panel gaps right, etc.

In the U.S. they did it the same way too, except even after all of the beating and bending things still didn't line up right...

[promotosport1]

this is painful to watch ;-)

[xilokastro]

The first guy plays the drums and owns the discography of Scorpions.

[Rielity]

1:33 everytime makes me laugh the way he smashes that door :)

[deloula2005]

I would have liked to live in this country.No joke

[iwgogo]

I think,Communist society, "KAIZEN" seem to be the word.

[uvlajzakonje]

the guy at 1:26 was like, fuck y'all, i'm done here... :D

[szentagostonka]

Hand made car. DIY.

[ld309]

Christ, they've basically been in an accident before it even comes out the factory.

[alfaripopo]

Wow, as if nothing was designed and manufactured to fit in the first place. Amazing footage.

[francescobra]

:D :D :D :D :D Crazy, howto destroy car :D :D

[batreeka]

Yuck. And they wanted to convert the world to this economic system [shudders]. So inefficient, and such poor quality!

[staceysmail]

A kick here, a tug there. A thump of a hammer, a full-on body-weight pull. Such passion. Such craftsmanship. I bet if you look really hard you can find the hammer and chisel initials of the craftsmen under the hood.

[uvlajzakonje]

it is interesting that rabant's ''body'' was not made of metal but of duroplast...

[starszaszmata]

Music: Exotique Bossa Nova / Quiet Village Bossa Nova

[uvlajzakonje]

@starszaszmata i love you man, i've been looking for this all over the place. BIG THANKS :)))))

[7477238]

It's funny because when I think German automobiles I think of MB, BMW, Audi etc. So the Germans did build crap quality cars at one point, well the East Germans.

[batreeka]

@7477238 Get this, in East Germany they had EMW! The Russians expropriated BMW's production facilities that fell in their sector and started manufacturing a Soviet beemer!

[niebieskidemon]

I have my own Trabant :D it is great car :) regards from Warsaw

[mrKozmoz]

This video is made better by the inclusion of a vuvuzela :)

[y3623951]

please show me asians, mexicans, ...  slaves in american car plants. for 10$ ... or not ... there are no cellphones. every minute cost ... supervisors're looking.

[allysonand]

Their engine was a two cycle just like on an old jetski.

[allysonand]

Their main tool is a hammer...

[forthefatherland699]

@allysonand If it works

[jostaut]

hahaha! Dont let toyota gays know that. Maybe they contract this workers to resolv the aceleration cable problem....

[erikinhawaii]

This is got to be the worst car to have if you like cheating on women...

[schenkel123]

3:24

His gesticulation.... it is like "ah fuck this shit..."

[Acnd12]

Love Trabi, and Trabi will love you ^_^

[tg01millmorer]

I want one so much!

A list of cars I want to own (in not particular order):

Smart Car

Mini (classic, not new)

BMW Isetta

Messerschmitt

Fiat 500

Fiat 126

Peel P50

Trabant

[Excalion88]

@tg01millmorer No Wartburg?